Powerline Networking Test Drive

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What could be easier than simply plugging your PC into any available AC outlet to connect to your home network? The April 23, 2002 issue of PC Magazine tests the first Powerline networking products from Linksys, Netgear, and Phonex. In this companion article, we’ll give you a bit of a preview to that story, dig deeper into the technology, discuss further testing we performed in our home office lab, and compare this newest home networking technology with the other solutions currently available.

The promise of Powerline networking is that you can link to your home network anywhere in your home just by plugging into any ordinary AC outlet. Like HomePNA Phoneline networking, Powerline is a “no new wires” technology presented primarily as an easier to install technology than wired Ethernet, which uses twisted-pair cables to connect PCs directly or via hubs, switches, or routers. Running new cables from room to room can be messy, and especially difficult if you have to go through walls and ceilings. It may even be impossible in some homes, or extremely expensive.

The advantage of Powerline over Phoneline networking is that, while phone jacks are common in the main rooms of most modern homes, they aren’t as common as AC outlets, which are generally in every room. Also, each room in most houses has only one phone jack (at least only one for a specific phone number), so if you want to connect to your network from across the room you once again have a potential cable problem. Most rooms have several AC outlets, however, so positioning a PC within a room is less of a factor than finding a place to compute near a phone jack.

According to the Powerline chip makers Intellon and Cogency, and to the vendors who will be selling Powerline products, another factor in favor of Powerline over Phoneline is that consumers “get it” when Powerline networking is explained. Since people are already used to plugging multiple and different types of devices into AC outlets, so it isn’t much of a mental leap to figure out that it could work with data networking as well. For example, the X-10 enthusiasts have already demonstrated that you can capture image files over power lines via tiny remote cameras as well as use devices that control lights, thermostats, drapes, security systems, and even manage the feeding schedule of your koi pond. In contrast to networking via AC power lines, it’s not as easy for non-techy consumers to comprehend that they can use the same phone line to send data and make voice calls at the same time.